The title is something you’ll hear from time to time when trying to study with someone about the Gospel. It may or may not amaze at the number of mental hoops people will jump through to justify NOT doing what God commands. In desperation, someone may blurt out something like: “Paul isn’t Jesus, so unless Jesus said it, I’m not going to worry about it.”
As you might expect, there are plenty of ways to defeat such a flimsy argument, but I was studying Jeremiah the other day and this verse jumped out at me…
Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words…
(Jeremiah 25:7-8)
Despite the written commandments and despite the reminders of the prophets, the people disobeyed and disregarded God. They did not “hearken” to the message (a word that means more than just to “hear,” but implies an intent to act on what is heard). God sent prophet after prophet to beg the people to repent of their idolatry and, in response, the people shut their ears, closed their eyes, and ignored them all.
Verse 8 is the kicker: This is the beginning of God’s lengthy response to the people’s actions (specifically the rejection of His prophets). There’s much not to note from it (since we don’t even get the end of a sentence…seriously, Bible people, why chop up the verse like this?), but I want you to notice how God takes personal offense to the rejection of His prophets, and He equates it with a rejection of Himself.
Jeremiah stood on the street corner, Jeremiah preached to the people, and when the people scoffed at Jeremiah, the Lord acted as though they had scoffed at Him, not Jeremiah. That’s why He said: “you have not hearkened unto ME” (v7). When inspired men spoke, God Himself spoke.
Remember that the next time someone lightly tries to dismiss the words of Peter, Paul, James and others. When they spoke, God was speaking. What they commanded, He commanded.
~ Matthew